Old New Ideas

I am currently watching some college football and am wondering if the entire football world has lost their marbles. Whoah! Onside kick! The kicking team recovered! It’s as if all the teams thought to be good in the NFL are not, with surprises from the weekly games coming left and right. College football is exactly the same, with upsets and meltdowns aplenty.

I’ve been to a few college football games this year and have thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. I visisted my pledge brothers in Alabama and saw my old friends in Baton Rouge. I had a great time with both groups of friends, although the differences between Tide and Tiger fans are about as small as the Grand Canyon.

I got a new phone last week. It’s the iPhone 4 and I have fallen in love with it. I’m no longer the sole person who cannot send or receive picture messages. No longer do I have merely 3 games on my phone. I am able to video chat with my girlfriend and find a taxi cab number while out on the town. It’s great and I am surprised that I could have ever settled for my previous phone. No matter what, though, that phone lasted a long time. My old phone was a soldier, deflecting any drops with ease. Together we struggled through many things. That phone has been through everything, and when the phone tech asked if I wanted to recycle it, I had to refuse.  How can you give away something that helped to create so many memories? That’s difficult to say as I feel like Benedict Arnold, turning my back on what I have begun to trust. The flashy, elaborate iPhone took the gusto from my old phone, knocking all qualities out of the picture. Except  one.

Durability.

My old phone and my current, but very old, car are both durable.

They may not be new a flashy, but they get the job done.

I miss things like that. What happened to functionality and resourcefulness? I feel like al products these days are gimmicks, attempting to lure the consumer into the the idea that a Nuevo-riche look is easy to obtain with sleek, gloss black products. Whatever.

I mean go to Best Buy and all of their stuff looks nearly exactly the same. I like things you can depend on, and it’s these products that make me wary of chain superstores.

One thing I am certain of, and that’s the idea that these products and people fueling the connectivity-themed modern world are unreliable. We’ll see how such a fast paced world works, with everyone seemingly jacked up on 5 Hour Energy. Patience, dependability, and loyalty are qualities that are my favorite selling points, be it products or personalities.

Send Me on My Way....

Blog Blog Blog.

This week has been pretty good, as I had a tiny vacation for All Saints Day and Election Day.

I work in DeSoto Parish doing title work and abstracting for a company (industry ethics don’t allow me to say the company name) and the courthouse was closed on Monday for All Saints Day mad Tuesday for elections. Good little holiday but I still worked from my house, which I have converted into a home office. I live with two friends, Grant and Cameron, in a house that Grant’s mother bought and renovated. We helped with the new additions and repairs and have been living here for exactly one year this Sunday. After doing all the painting, some carpentry, and other large endeavors around here the house has become extremely endearing.

We worked so hard to help her complete the renovations and played a humongous part in the completion and final layout of the house.

As I said, I have turned my room into a home office with a desk, printer/fax/scanner, lights, file cabinets, wireless keyboard, and huge monitor.

This monitor happens to be a Christmas present to myself from last December, a 42” Samsung television. I can hook my computer up to the television and sit in my bed surfing the net, working on the DeSoto Parish Clerk of Court website, or even writing a blog post. I also have speakers set up to send out soothing music to aid my studying or to make a more intense experience while watching an action movie.

Okay, okay.

I know it doesn’t sound like an office environment with all the fun gadgets, but I do work very hard.

It’s tough juggling 15 hours of school and meeting weekly deadlines for my job but I work hard enough to do so. Many people in my office try to make me look bad, as they realize a 21 year-old kid is doing the same thing they are. It’s ok, I don’t let it bother me anymore because I know I’ll be much better off in the long run if I hold my head high and work my butt off. I have been blackmailed before, with a still unknown perpetrator going through my work and leaving me notes claiming to “tell the bosses” that I wasn’t completing my work. I do my work, just on a strange and different time frame. Let’s call it the college student timeline.

I sometimes feel like a chicken with my head cut off, flying down the highway to Mansfield, LA to get to work on time then flying back north to get to class or to work on papers and projects. The one thing that keeps me going is the idea that I can further my general knowledge about life, people, and myself if I am able to push myself past my comfortable limits.

I love to test and challenge myself in any way possible. Can I make an ‘A’? Can I close the gap in the chain of title for the abstract I’m working on in time to make the deadline?

I like to power through adversity, if that’s a good explanation. I feel many people merely settle during their life and find themselves wondering “what if?”.

I never want to put myself in that situation, which is why I feel like it’s necessary for me to keep on keep'in on.

Here’s a quote I wish I could take credit for, but I’ve always remembered it as it’s from my favorite movie, Braveheart.

Every man dies, but not everyman TRULY lives.

Bang, boom, pow… I’m out.

Weak Week

SO this week is supposed to be Halloween. Supposed to be a fun weekend, filled with fun and possible debauchery? Nope
You would think finding a costume and going to parties would be at the top of the list for my rooommates and friends. Yes, you would think that sounds like fun.
But I failed in tempting even one friend to find a costume to join me in fun. Their reply to my plead, "Nah man, nobody's dressing up. I don't wanna sit around at the house in a costume if there's nothing to do."
Nothing to do?
Ha. I scoff at your comments. There is always fun to be had. Throughout the week I attempt to look forward to the weekend as a sort of mini-vacation. This vacation was dull, true, but I was able to eat dinner with my little sister, Juliana, and my parents for my mothers birhday on Friday night. That was a plus, as the pasta-chicken dish from Chianti's was awesome. What a great treat, going out to eat with my family. I haven't seen my little sister in weeks, her new freshman experience pulls her away from Shreveport and keeps her situated in Ruston. She's very busy and hardly answers the phone except to ask me questions.
"What's a good costume idea for this party?How should I study for this test? Do you think I should go to this date party with this guy?"
That last one's easy, NO.
That's right, I'm super protective and I try to shield here from any and every male in her vicinity. It's because I love her. I don't want her around those animals.
Well my weekend is coming to a conclusion, and I am struggling to find something to occupy my time.
I did play Emergency Response Thursday evening. My mom was on the phone with her mother and said she heard a shout and a loud bump. She called me and said she believed my grandmother had fallen. She was spot-on.
I rushed to my grandparents just as the ambulance was backing into the driveway. We built a handicap ramp for her last weekend, and it's eerily convenient that the EMS crew could use it to put her on the gurney and wheel her out. Strange but true.
My grandmother is ok, just some minor bruising. Hopefully she'll take better care of herself.
Overall I have no complaints. We'll see what this week has in store for me.

To Ruston

I again find myself writing my blog while driving in a car.

Haha, gotcha.

I am not driving and writing, are you crazy?

Well once again I had a successful week, even though I accumulated a speeding ticket, dead car battery, a car window that won’t roll all the way up, and an ungodly bar tab last night.

The speeding ticket was ridiculous, mainly because the DeSoto Sheriff’s deuputy was going the opposite direction pulling over another car and turned around to pull me over and the car I was following as well.

72 mph? In a 55? Sooo this means you got me with the radar gun that bends around the car in front of me? Yea, that is hilarious.

Next, my car battery went completely dead, as in dead as it could possibly be.

After this, my driver’s side window jumped off of its track and would only roll up just under halfway. So, imagine this scene:

                I’m driving down I-49 with a sweater and a rolled down window in the forty or fifty degree early morning weather racing to Mansfield, LA so I’m not late for work.  I leaned towards the center console of my Montero Sport, the Blue Bullet, just to take the wind impact down a notch.

                Last night we went downtown and stumbled upon one of our friend’s older brothers who always manages to create an incredible night. He’s huge, so as long as we have our muscle we can have as much fun as we want to. Roger, my friends brother, has our back and it’s always a good thing.

                But, when we meet up with Roger, we always try and tear up the town. My bar tab was stupid, but we had a blast.

I’m now riding with the girlfriend to Ruston to see Louisiana Tech play their homecoming game. My fam ily is extremely involved in the school and has been for decades. I love the ‘Dogs, they’re definitely my first college football love. This weekend will hopefully turn my past week’s misfortunes.

                These events are incredibly humorous to me. I think it’s funny that all these things happen, because the punches keep coming and I’m still rollin’

FYI: I’m updating this post. I attempted to turn in this blog using The Dawg Houses’ Wifi, a bar in Ruston. My computer dies and I’m now in a random washateria in Ruston charging my computer and searching for networks.

What a wonderful life!

Late Night

I know it's sooooo late, but I fell asleep a little early and woke up late...
Iguess you could call it late, huh? Seeing as I meant to post a lot earlier, even had the thing typed up ahead of time.
But, as you may be able to tell, I had to make fatal alterations to the post I created earlier.
I had to tell y'all about falling asleep, I had to change up the story of my weekend and display the satire that fills my life.
yes, i do think these types of situations are quite funny,I mean I already had everything typed and fell asleep to ruin my Saturday night scholastically and socially. Well, if any of my classmates happen to read this post, i hope Ms. Smith will consider my pleadings and allow for the late turn in date.
This week has been just like the past few, although I have found it difficult to rebound from my Tuscaloosa trip. I worked my butt off again this week and went to every class. I also played hard and well in my flag football games. After all this and a late arrival time from Tuscaloosa Sunday night, I am glad to get rest this weekend.
Friday night my buddies and I went to the Ludacris concert in the LSUS auditorium. I thought it was awesome how the bug star, Ludacris himself, played in such a small venue and sang ALL of his old-school songs. Most of his stuff is the type of music that takes you back to middle school dances, but he also mixed in a lot of new material. Overall, it was alright. The scene was awkward, for sure. I mean LSUS? LUDACRIS? that is just crazy ( if i had said ludacris there it would've been lame)
Anyway, I am zomped out from Friday nights barrage of bass and this weird night of sleep.
Now I have been up an hour after falling asleep for almost six hours.
Ugh, I am gonna try and sleep once again, Wish Me Luck!

-DDP

TGIF

Ok, so it’s hard to explain this point of view, but I’d like to point out that after every week posting on this blog, it’s hard to say “oh what a week,” or “thank goodness it’s Friday (TGIF),” just because it seems like a repetitive way to explain my week and life happenings.

Instead, I will proclaim this as not an end of the week, but the beginning of the weekend.

Confused? Curious?

If yes, then rightly so because in my eyes the weekend is a whole new adventure. After completing homework and taking care of any responsibilities, I’m able to enjoy the weekend and feel a sense of freedom. What a good weekly vacation, eh? So after my last test for a few weeks Monday night, I enjoyed the fruits of a great football weekend brought to a culmination by Monday night football. I had a good work week, one that was short and productive.

I’m currently writing this en route to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to see the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide play against the #7 Florida Gators. I went to ‘Bama my freshman year and made lifelong friends and connections. I miss the campus and school terribly, I felt like it was a second home. It’s a long story, but financial reasons stemming from a cut in my scholarship caused my plight. Don’t get me wrong, LSU-S and Shreveport are great, but I thoroughly enjoyed being away from my hometown and around a distinctly different group of people than my high school friends.  Did I mention my uncle is a referee in the game I’m seeing? He’s been an SEC official for awhile, and I will be able to see my cousins Brandon and Jordan who traveled with him to the game.

As I coast across I-20, approaching Meridian, Mississippi, I reminisce on all the great times I’ve had in my destination. Oh, and FYI, I’m not typing and driving at the same time. I’m the co-pilot to my girlfriend, Lauren, who feels it to be her duty to drive this trip. She’s a good driver, but occasionally makes me anxious with her speed and driving dance moves, apparently a necessity to the music she selects.

Enough about T-town, Tuscaloosa’s nickname, I want to liven up my blog. I hope I’m not merely a typical blogger.

Here’s a joke, why couldn’t the elephant move away?

It’s simple…

He couldn’t pick up his trunk!

Hope that gives a smile to your day.

Enjoy your weekend, dear reader, and remember a smile can be contagious.

*Over and out*

-DP

What a week

THis was a hectic week. In the closing minutes of this Saturday night, I'm thinking about all the studying I've done, work I've completed, and  all the other activities I have done this week. I really can't believe how lucky I am to have survived, but even more lucky to be able to experience all these things. I didn't complain when I skipped most of the Saints game for my Monday night marketing class. I didn't complain when I studied for hours attempting to ace my two tests this week. I didn't complain when I had to hustle in order to meet my deadlines at work by Friday afternoon. I consider myself very lucky and blessed to have these responsibilities, and with this new outlook on life everything's much more fun and tolerable. I say tolerable when in reality I don't feel like I'm tolerating anything. I am really enjoying life, as I did great on my tests, still saw some of the game, impressed my bosses, and went boating Friday evening. I had a great time on the lake with my buddies and just witnessed some incredible football. Is it possible to overdose on football? I came close today, mainly because there were some amazing, close games. What an exciting football season.
Actually, I'm excited in general.
Like I said, I'm loving life right now, and I hope it'll spread to whoever's reading this. (If anyone)
What're those sayings? Fortune favors the bold? Luck finds those who are positive?
If this is true, then I'm ready and waiting for the next best thing. Bring on Monday.